Roll: Back-Alley Suburbia part 2

This is the continuation of my series on suburban back alleys. Totally in color, this work tries to show that even the most perfect of suburbs have an "ugly" side to them. I traversed more of Wilmette's alleys in order to show you what my town tries to hide from the public eye. All of these photos were taken on my Pentax MX with a 50mm 1:1.4 lens using Fujifilm 200 speed color film.

 

Print: Bride to Be

I made this print a couple of days ago in my darkroom. The subject is a mannequin in the window of a local dry cleaner's in downtown Wilmette. I've passed by that dry cleaners on many an occasion and always noticed how creepy this mannequin is.... especially at night, which is when I took this photograph. I used my Mamiya C330 with a 105mm lens.

Fun fact: This is the first print I have made with my C330 that has not been square.

Thanks for looking!

Spotlight: Argoflex Seventy-Five

I bought my Argus Argoflex Seventy-Five at a Salvation Army in Galesburg, near where I went to school, a few years ago. I think I paid three dollars. It was my first medium format camera. I remember I had my friend, David, show me how to re-spool 120 film onto 620 reels so that I could try the camera out. It was this camera that made me learn the awesomeness of Twin Lens Reflex cameras, and the potential of 120 film. It also got me into collecting vintage cameras, with Argus becoming my favorite brand.

The Argoflex Seventy-Five is about as simple as a camera from the 1950's gets. It has a fixed focus f11 or f16 lens that's 75mm in focal length. That means there's no focusing... your subject just has to be further than six feet away and in the sun. The camera has an "instant" shutterspeed (probably around 1/50th of a second), and a "Time" setting, which is actually a bulb exposure.

I like the deco-inspired aesthetics, with the strong horizontal indents running across the sides of the camera, doubling as grips. There is an engraving from the previous owner, named Kate McCurry. It's hard to imagine that on the 50's, this would be your ONLY camera.

Here are a few photos I've taken with the Argoflex Seventy-Five. As always, thanks for reading!

Print: Truth (The End)

I made this 4x6'' print in my darkroom a few weeks ago. It's of an abandoned Citgo gas station down my street a few miles. Originally it said "The End" where the gas prices used to be listed. It gave off a very post-apocalyptic vibe. "The End" was replaced a few months ago with a real-estate poster, which is a bummer.  Lately the word "Truth" has been spray-painted on all of the covered up gas pumps. I made this photograph using my Pentax MX with Arista-Premium 400 speed film.

Spotlight: Exakta VX

The Exakta VX was first introduced in 1951 by Ihagee, a German camera manufacturer based out of Dresden. The Exakta line had been around for a while before the VX (The original Exakta was actually the very first mass produced 35mm SLR!), but the VX marked the first Exakta that had interchangeable viewfinders.

I love how the all metal build contrasts with the sexy black leather. The Etched "Exakta" logo on the front of camera is just plain gorgeous, and I find the symmetry of the overall design to be quite pleasing.  Ironically, a few months ago I found a second Exakta VX at an estate sale (for much cheaper than what I paid on Ebay, mind you), so I actually own two of these cameras.

The Exakta VX has some unique features. For one, there are two shutter speed selection dials. One dial controls the fast speeds (1/25th through 1/1000th), while the second dial controls the slow speeds (1/5th through 12 seconds) and the self timer. You have to wind this dial before you can use it. This slow speed dial doesn't seem to work properly on either of my VX's, so I never use it. Another cool feature of the VX is the inclusion of a miniature knife inside the camera body. If you pull a certain knob on the bottom of the camera, you can cut the film inside the camera with this knife. It's useful if you just want to take a few shots, and then rewind the rest of the film into the canister to use later.

I've put probably about five rolls through my VX's, with nice overall results. The Carl Zeiss lenses I have for the cameras are pretty damn sharp. Here are some shots I've taken with it. Thanks for reading!

Roll: Back-Alley Suburbia

So after writing my blog post on the Rollei 35, I got excited about the camera, and decided to take it out with me on a walk two days ago, since it was fairly nice out (for December standards).

Wilmette, the town I currently reside in, is a very nice, quiet, and safe suburb of Chicago. Everything is pretty much perfect if you're married with kids. Needless to say, it's also extremely boring. I like to photograph old, decrepit things, so there's not a lot for me to shoot here. Nevertheless, I went to explore some of the alleyways of Wilmette.  In these alleys, things are not kept flawless like they are from street view.

Spotlight: Ricoh A-100 Super

The Ricoh A-100 was my first manually operated 35mm film camera. It's by no means an expensive or exceptionally well built camera, but it holds a special place in my heart. It was on this camera that I first learned how load film onto the take-up reel (of which I wasted 3 rolls of film... embarrassing). I remember loving advancing the film with the lever, it felt almost like a pump-action shotgun.  I originally bought my Ricoh at a flea market for $10. Using this camera is part of what really got me interested in darkroom photography.

The A-100 super has some nice features for being such a cheap camera. Firstly, it has a K-mount, so it accepts all of the amazing Pentax brand lenses available. In fact, before I bought my Pentax MX, I used this camera with my SMC Pentax 1:1.4 lens.  The camera can be operated in full manual mode, but you can also use it in aperture priority mode, which I have found to be very reliable. In fact, The A-100 Super has one of the best exposure meters I've seen on a 35mm SLR. It has a dial that lets you select your ISO speed (which, sadly, is broken), and an exposure compensation dial. A self timer is also available.

I used this camera to take photos for Katie's brother's band, "Istari". The photos are from an abandoned brick factory in the town of Galesburg, near where I went to college. All that's left standing of the factory is one lonely chimney, surrounded by a field of shoulder-high grass. It was a creepy experience.  

While I'm unsure whether I will ever put film through this camera again, I'll always have great memories of my Ricoh A-100 Super. Here's some more shots I've taken with it. Thanks for reading!